Hacking Restore savegames from DB backup

[cordezz]

Hello,
I have a PS4 Pro with 6.72 and some days ago my hdd died
Unfortunately I do not have a backup done by the PS4 system menu (never knew this option), but only some DB backups done by the exploit menü. I dont know my old PSN ID or used the offline activator.
So is there any chance to restore the savegames of the DB backup? I tried it with the save mounter but I guess the savegames of the DB backup are encrypted and there is no way to decrypt them...

 

[ItsmeAJ]

How did your hdd die? Too many panic shutdowns?

 

[godreborn]

I don't know if there's anything you can do with those saves. @Leeful ? those saves are encrypted if you used the db and sg payload, so the only way to get them to work is knowing the account id.

 

[Leeful]

I don't know if there's anything you can do with those saves. @Leeful ? those saves are encrypted if you used the db and sg payload, so the only way to get them to work is knowing the account id.

There is not much hope. the saves are encrypted to the accountID and the databases are tied to the profileID. When you put in a new HDD these will change.

If you never initialised your PS4 in the past and you never activated your profile there may be a very slim chance that your profileID might be the same when you install the recovery firmware on your new HDD.

When you install your new HDD, FTP into the ps4 and check the user/home/xxxxxxx directory name.
If the 'xxxxxx' folder is the same as the one in the backup on usb you might be in luck.

 

[godreborn]

I know when I formatted my ps4 hdd on the pc, the profile id was radically different afterwards. same hdd, same system, but initializing the hdd changed them. originally, it was 10000000, which I thought was some sort of starting point. the second profile I made was named 10000001, but I don't know if they changed from officially activating the accounts. it does seem like an odd, "random" number.

 

[Leeful]

Ive just been looking at some old backups from one of my PS4's and in the savedata.db the account_id is 0 and the user_id is 431759881.
431759881 converted to hex is 19bc2209 which is the user folder name in \system_data\savedata\19bc2209\ and \user\home\19bc2209\

The account_id is 0 in the savedata.db because that profile was not activated at the time.

You could edit the savedata.db to match the current user_id but I think the user_id might also be in the actual save files also which would be a problem.

maybe they could be changed with hex editing. I'll have to have a look.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I could not find the user_id in the backup save files because they are encrypted but in the decrypted saves the user_id is in the param.sfo

 

[godreborn]

Figured. I'd strongly suggest people backup saves with export and decrypted versions save mounter.

 

[zestiva]

DB backup only restore to the same user account, you changed hdd, user account will random rebuild

 

[Leeful]

DB backup only restore to the same user account, you changed hdd, user account will random rebuild

Thats correct. If you make a profile backup using the official backup/restore in system settings you can then use the savegame, trophy, etc backups you make on a new HDD, initialised system or even a different PS4.

 

[godreborn]

I lost all my switch saves when my nand corrupted, and I was legit, so I know his pain. I still don't have my octopath or xenoblade chronicles save back, and my octopath one had over 100 hours.

 

[cordezz]

Hey guys, thank you for so many answers.

Yes the hdd died during a kernel panic shutdown. But there were very less kp in the past, so perhaps it was only bad luck. The hdd is completely dead, it does not spin any more. There are still 3 years of warranty (Seagate) so I might get a new one...

I compared user/home/xxxxxxx from my old DB backup with the directory of my new profile (inserted and old hdd in installed FW 6.72 again) and as expected it has a new ID. So there won't be any chance of recovery.

So for the future what would you suggest:

• Use a ssd instead of a hdd? Is it more "kp resistant"? Do you have any experiences with ssd in the ps4? But 2TB are really expensive atm
• Make backups with the DB backup (for the actual ps4 accoutn)
• Make backups with the ps4 system menu in case the hdd dies again. With this backup I can restore the complete profile, games, savegames, etc. on the same ps4 again. The menu says only on this ps4, not on any other.
• Make backups with the save mounter. Then I have decrypted savegames for every other jail braked ps4.

• But then I do not have a backup of the trophies, etc. (not so important). Were are the trophies stored and are the encrypted, too?
• The user ID is the user/home/xxxxxxx number in hex. But where can I finde the account ID?
• What advantages do I have when I use the ps4 offline account activator?

 

[ItsmeAJ]

Hey guys, thank you for so many answers.

Yes the hdd died during a kernel panic shutdown. But there were very less kp in the past, so perhaps it was only bad luck. The hdd is completely dead, it does not spin any more. There are still 3 years of warranty (Seagate) so I might get a new one...

I compared user/home/xxxxxxx from my old DB backup with the directory of my new profile (inserted and old hdd in installed FW 6.72 again) and as expected it has a new ID. So there won't be any chance of recovery.

So for the future what would you suggest:

• Use a ssd instead of a hdd? Is it more "kp resistant"? Do you have any experiences with ssd in the ps4? But 2TB are really expensive atm
• Make backups with the DB backup (for the actual ps4 accoutn)
• Make backups with the ps4 system menu in case the hdd dies again. With this backup I can restore the complete profile, games, savegames, etc. on the same ps4 again. The menu says only on this ps4, not on any other.
• Make backups with the save mounter. Then I have decrypted savegames for every other jail braked ps4.

• But then I do not have a backup of the trophies, etc. (not so important). Were are the trophies stored and are the encrypted, too?
• The user ID is the user/home/xxxxxxx number in hex. But where can I finde the account ID?
• What advantages do I have when I use the ps4 offline account activator?

Too bad that hdds keep dying because of panic shutdowns, I have a thread here https://gbatemp.net/threads/what-damage-ps4-hdd-takes-if-it-gets-too-much-panic-shutdowns.575060/ where I have tried to collect as much info about hdd's problems with panic shutdowns as there are so many people who are not aware of this problem just because they haven't experienced them yet.

These steps below will make sure you will not lose any of your data including save/profile/trophy anymore, just follow the steps carefully.

1. You should activate psn for local account with offline account activator, you will be able to copy game saves to external usb for official game saves backup. For example, you sometimes will have panic shutdown during gaming which will probably corrupt your current game saves. If you have your official save backup on usb, you can copy the save back from usb to internal storage without losing too much game complete percentage which is depended on how frequently you backup your saves to usb. I normally backup once before I go to sleep. If the next day my save get corrupted because of internal storage problems, I always have backup of that save from yesterday.

Also with psn activated account, you can restore your account on any ps4 with official backup utility in ps4 settings. Non-activated psn account (local account) only can be restored on the same ps4 which it's created on.

2. After you have your account psn activated, use official backup and restore utility in ps4 settings (system settings) to backup profiles, you won't need to backup save/apps, only profiles/settings/screenshots is needed for official backup.

3. Run jailbreak, then run dbbackup payload, you will have backup of saves, database and trophies.

1+2+3 are enough to backup everything for your account.
- You will have backup of game saves in \PS4\SAVEDATA\2aa82218be01dd1d\ (2aa82218be01dd1d is my account) on usb
- You will have profile/settings/screenshots backup in : \PS4\EXPORT\BACKUP\202010070830_00\achieve.dat by doing official backup on usb.
- You will have backup of trophies in 2 locations \UserData\user\home\1331b41b\trophy and \UserData\user\trophy (1331b41b is my account), yours will be different but trophy locations are same on usb

To restore full pack on another internal storage or another ps4, follow steps below:

4. use official backup and restore utility, then run restore and choose the backup you have from step (2), ps4 will restore your account, settings, screenshot but not game saves, trophies. Keep doing next step.

5. Copy saves from external usb you have backup from step (1) to internal storage

6. Run jailbreak, run ftp payload, using pc and run any ftp software like filezilla client, then connect to ps4 storage and this time you will restore trophies from backup you have on step (3)

Then copy all folders/file from \UserData\user\home\1331b41b\trophy and \UserData\user\trophy (1331b41b is my account) from backups back to exact locations on ps4 storage you are browsing with filezilla. When it's done, restart ps4 and then you will have everything available from the last time you back them up.


SSD for ps4 is a good choice, you will have faster loading screen, textures will appear as fast as possible, everything will be smoother than on hdd. Beside you wont have to worry abt bad sectors anymore because ssd is not a mechanic drive.

But investing big storage (above 2tb) into ps4 is a waste imo because of price, 500gb-1tb is reasonable.

 

[cordezz]

Thank you for this detailed description. I hope a lot of other players can take benefit from it, before they have a hdd crash.

I did not know before, that there are two backup possibilities in the official ps4 menu. One for the profile, settings, etc. and another for the savegames.
Bevor I install a new hdd/ssd and start gaming, I will check out everything and try the offline activator. Hopefully this was the first and last time my ps4 got messed up.

 

[ItsmeAJ]

Thank you for this detailed description. I hope a lot of other players can take benefit from it, before they have a hdd crash.

I did not know before, that there are two backup possibilities in the official ps4 menu. One for the profile, settings, etc. and another for the savegames.
Bevor I install a new hdd/ssd and start gaming, I will check out everything and try the offline activator. Hopefully this was the first and last time my ps4 got messed up.

- once a week you should backup profile/settings/screenshots
- backup games save daily, before you turn off the console.
- run dbbackup payload daily as well, right after you install any new game/app to ps4.

Then once a week, copy them all to pc, put them in one folder, compress into a rar or 7zip archive and name as ps4_backup_userxxxx_ddmmyyyy. Keeping 2-3 backup archives available are enough, delete older ones. That's what I do to keep everything backup from wii,xbox 360, ps3, ps4.

 

[zestiva]

Hey guys, thank you for so many answers.

Yes the hdd died during a kernel panic shutdown. But there were very less kp in the past, so perhaps it was only bad luck. The hdd is completely dead, it does not spin any more. There are still 3 years of warranty (Seagate) so I might get a new one...

I compared user/home/xxxxxxx from my old DB backup with the directory of my new profile (inserted and old hdd in installed FW 6.72 again) and as expected it has a new ID. So there won't be any chance of recovery.

So for the future what would you suggest:

• Use a ssd instead of a hdd? Is it more "kp resistant"? Do you have any experiences with ssd in the ps4? But 2TB are really expensive atm
• Make backups with the DB backup (for the actual ps4 accoutn)
• Make backups with the ps4 system menu in case the hdd dies again. With this backup I can restore the complete profile, games, savegames, etc. on the same ps4 again. The menu says only on this ps4, not on any other.
• Make backups with the save mounter. Then I have decrypted savegames for every other jail braked ps4.

• But then I do not have a backup of the trophies, etc. (not so important). Were are the trophies stored and are the encrypted, too?
• The user ID is the user/home/xxxxxxx number in hex. But where can I finde the account ID?
• What advantages do I have when I use the ps4 offline account activator?

account ID is your psn id, if you can use ps4 official save backup to usb device, /ps4/savedata/xxxxxxxx is your account ID, you can find a official ps4 login your psn account and backup save to usb device, and find your account ID in usb device

 

[godreborn]

I have a few suggestions. if you know the email address associated with the account, you can probably get it from sony's official website. then, do the "forgot password" thing. after which, you can use @Leeful 's aid script to get your account id.

if you use the same account on the ps3, you can get the aid from a save file (param.sfo). remember: if the first character is a 0, it won't be displayed. the aid should be 16 characters long I believe.

if you use the same account on the vita/pstv, open the id.dat (on ux0 root) with notepad++ to get the aid. the cma (account) id can also be used, but it's in little Endian just like the param.sfo for saves on the ps4, so 0123456789ABCDEF will be EFCDAB8967452301 (byte reversed). rewrite it to get the aid for account activator.

 

[cordezz]

3. Run jailbreak, then run dbbackup payload, you will have backup of saves, database and trophies

I did install everthing from the scratch with a 1TB SSD. Activated my account offline and now the official ps4 back tools work and don't tell me that the backup can only be restored on this ps4.

There are two folders on my external hdd created by the official backup, this seems to be right:
\PS4\EXPORT\BACKUP\202011291116_00\archive.dat
\PS4\SAVEDATA\10d43677b46xxxxx\CUSA09xxx\ with some autosave und option files.

But the DB backup of the exploit menu is strange now:
With FW 5.07 it looked like
\DB_Backup\
\UserData\system_data\
\UserData\user\ and so on, like the file structure which you can see with ftp access.

Now with FW 6.72 it is only
\DB_Backup\addcont.db, app.db, av_content_bg.db
The other file structure is completely missing. Did anything change with FW 6.72 and the DB backup?

And now after offline activiation of the local account it is not possible to rename the account name or change anything. I guess that right, too? You can only delete the account...

EDIT: The UserData folder of the DB Backup is actually on the hdd. I think I have overlooked it first time.

 

[godreborn]

afaik, there's no way to change the name of your account with account activator or any other tool. yes, the user folder is on the hdd. all db and sg dumper payload does is dump the files from the hdd. it doesn't do anything to them, so they're technically only usable with the same account.

 

[ItsmeAJ]

I did install everthing from the scratch with a 1TB SSD. Activated my account offline and now the official ps4 back tools work and don't tell me that the backup can only be restored on this ps4.

There are two folders on my external hdd created by the official backup, this seems to be right:
\PS4\EXPORT\BACKUP\202011291116_00\archive.dat
\PS4\SAVEDATA\10d43677b46xxxxx\CUSA09xxx\ with some autosave und option files.

But the DB backup of the exploit menu is strange now:
With FW 5.07 it looked like
\DB_Backup\
\UserData\system_data\
\UserData\user\ and so on, like the file structure which you can see with ftp access.

Now with FW 6.72 it is only
\DB_Backup\addcont.db, app.db, av_content_bg.db
The other file structure is completely missing. Did anything change with FW 6.72 and the DB backup?

And now after offline activiation of the local account it is not possible to rename the account name or change anything. I guess that right, too? You can only delete the account...

EDIT: The UserData folder of the DB Backup is actually on the hdd. I think I have overlooked it first time.

it looks everything is fine for you right now, remember to do save and trophy backups daily and once a week copy them all to pc, compress them into an archive and keep 2-3 latest archives available just in case.

after you offline psn activated your account, you cant rename the account just like on real psn. So that's normal.

 

[cordezz]

Hey guys,
again thank you for your help.

End of the story: Today I have received the replacement from Seagate, after more than 3 weeks, but...
They did not send me the original hdd back but a brand new BarraCuda 120 SSD 2TB, SATA ZA2000CM10003 which is more than two times worth
So I think I will again exchange the 1TB SSD with the 2TB SSD and then I will know, if my backup strategy works now